I watched this video over and over again today. Some of you may recognize some of the lyrics you hear as the song God of this City from Chris Tomlin’s new album. Scottish worship band Bluetree was in Pattaya, Thailand for a worship festival back in 2006. While they were playing on the street, an owner of a bar asked if they would come play in his club. They immediatley noticed upon arrival that this bar was more than just a place to dance and get your drink on. As you can probably surmise from the video, they found themselves in the middle of Thailand’s sex trade, which is considered to be the epicenter of human trafficking worldwide, especially children. It is estimated that 200,000 to 300,00 women and children are trafficked into Thailand each year and forced into a cycle of bondage, rape and oppression. In Pattya, a resort town of about 70,000 people, there are 20,000 women working as prostitutes. That’s almost 40% of the population.
So, here is this Scottish worship band , standing on a stage adorned on every side with dancing poles, in the very midst of scantily clad women draping themselves over middle aged men and children being led by the hand up stairs into darkened rooms. They are proclaiming the name of Jesus in the midst of this chaos, speaking life into spirits that are crushed. And as they do that, the Lord gives the lead singer a new song to sing over this bar, over this town, over this nation.
“You are the God of this city…You are the King of these people…You are the Lord of this nation…You are….
I know it sounds crazy. What is a worship band from Scotland doing singing in a brothel in Thailand?
The very will of our Father in heaven, that’s what.
I can’t seem to get away from stories like these. I read blogs from our World Racers and something inside me catches. I hear testimonies from friends and I weep in front of the computer screen. A phrase keeps running through my head that I am not even sure who said it or where it came from
“In the midst of the greatest darkness will the greatest light come”
I see a stirring beginning to ripple throughout the body, especially in my generation. To enter into these dark places equipped with the authority of the Son, the heart of the Father, and the power of the Holy Spirit to speak life where there is death, hope where there is despair, and the Kingdom of heaven to crush the kingdom of this world.
I believe God is preparing His Bride for a time to truly step up and be a blazing flame of hope in the midst of a world that is growing darker and more chaotic by the minute. The brothels in Thailand are just a starting point.
So, here I sit in my cubicle in Gainesville, GA and wonder why the heck I can’t get a place I’ve never been and a people I have never met out of my head….
I think this is what I was made for. I don’t even really know what that means, but I would love your prayers as I try and figure this one out.
oh sister. welcome to having a small piece of God’s heart. welcome to the joys of being an intercessor. i pray that this would continue. that the Lord would continue to break your heart for the things that break His own. . . and that one day, He would take you to these places, that you may be His hands and speak His words, bringing light and life to a place of darkness and death.
Hey Jess – I hear you, I don’t know what you or I will do about this issue, but my heart is there too. I first heard about human trafficking in high school and I continually feel my life momentum building in that direction. But I don’t know what it means either, or exactly how I can help. It wasn’t the same in Tanzania – there wasn’t a formal sex trade or highly developed sex industry like in Thailand. But a report came out the first year I was there that 70% of Tanzanians girl’s first sexual experiences were rape! I have a friend from college working in India to help women out of prostitution. She’s working with a Christian organization… let me know if you’d like me to pass along her contact information. Also, I’m reading Somaly Mam’s book, “The Road of Lost Innocence” She was a child prostitute and now runs a rescue mission. It’s a hard read, but that’s the reality of what’s out there. For now I’m going to keep working on my Phd. Maybe I am meant to financially support organizations actively saving girls. but I also feel called to go over and DO something, I’m just not sure what yet. Best wishes lady.
YES!!!! welcome in.
we’re all asking similar questions. there’s a definite stirring.
love you friend. and your heart.
maybe you should go with Morgan on her wr sex trade trip beginning in May.
Jessica,
What your are missing is a calling in your life. You have significant giftings of exhortation and word of knowledge. Your jumbled heart is in that condition because you aren’t headed anywhere. You are in a boundary time in your life where you are ready to take the last several years of learning and experience and apply it to a calling – the justice issues you’ve talked about above may very well be your calling. I think you should follow Seth’s advice or find some other way to get over there. Then start raising support to that calling. I believe when these things happen it will all come together for you.
This was very moving to meGod is the greatest in the darkness. Maybe that is part of the reason for the Pslam which says God is”a very present help in time of trouble”.
You,Jessica, and your friends at Com Life and Aim are a great witness to me. I knew some people who went to Thailand for no certain reason that we could figure, and this was not all in one group. All were men, and it concerned me, having heard about the great darkness of abuse. But God is greater. Love, Emily
Jessica
This is exactly what my feelings are right now…
except I’m OLD!!
But God has put a stirring into my heart as well for the same thing.
This video and your writing touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes.
jes-
i just read this for the first time right now and tears came to my eyes even as i just read it. (the video isn’t working any more, do you know what to look it up under?) recently i feel the darkness is trying to creep into my mind, my feelings my heart and times i’m slow to recognize, others quickly, and i have the fight in me like nothing else! thanks for reminding me again that light wants to come in and win! we were meant for the light! oh, i love jesus. we were, you were meant to fight for the light!